AEW Dynamite 2nd December: WINTER IS HERE

[joeg]

My knee jerk reaction is that whatever this arrangement is will be great publicity for Impact but make AEW look bush league in the process. No company has ever worked with Impact and came out the better of it. Doesn't matter who is in charge, they've always managed to fuck their partners. So allowing your new champ to appear on Impact tv just seems like a huge leap of faith that something wont go horribly wrong. Plus AXS is burried so deep in the cable package that the only people who know where to find Impact's tv are the people already watching. 

[C.S.]

54 minutes ago, sek69 said:

I'm pretty sure you can watch the archives on impactplus.tv, you have to make an account but you don't have to pay unless you want to go way back.

I think I have a free account there, but when do they add the newest shows?

Edit: The Dec. 1st show is already there, so that answers my question! I assume it's added the following day, but that's good enough for me.

Edit 2: Accessible even without a login on both site and Roku app. GREAT news!!!

[sek69]

I believe the shows go up the next day on Impactplus, yes.

[TheDuke]

Impact shows on Game TV where I live on Saturdays, so I will be in the interesting position of watching AEW next week before I watch Impact.

I wish Don Callis' van had the Impact logo on the side of it. Are they able to watch AEW online in Japan? I wonder what Japanese fans would think of Omega winning the AEW belt? Also, I wonder what AEW with Japanese commentary would sound like.

[sek69]

I wonder how the average Japanese fan views the Elite guys, especially Kenny. Normally they don't begrudge foreigners who leave since they aren't expected to abide by the "stay with your home company" tradition that the Japanese wrestlers tend to follow. Kenny might be an exception since he made such an effort to assimilate with the culture, cutting extensive promos in fairly fluent Japanese, he was the most un-gaijin foreigner possible. Also it's one thing to leave for WWE like AJ and the Good Brothers did, can't be too mad at someone making a change to secure the bag. Kenny leaving New Japan on top to join an (at the time) unproven commodity with this friends might have been viewed differently.

 

Also it seems like the Impact website crashed after the angle took place so I suppose they're already getting a return on their investment in terms of interest. Tuesday's gonna be the most watched episode of their show since like the Spike days.  
 

[cm funk]

Match was good not great, but after listening to Omega on Observer Radio a couple weeks ago I have to give them a pass for working outdoors in December.  Jacksonville is North Florida near the coast and it gets cold at night.  It's hard to have a good, long match in those conditions, and I think it's a problem for them going forward over the next several months.  Everything has to hurt more, plus you don't have the crowd to heat you up.  Dalys Place is great but they should probably go indoors soon if they can.  I also think they maybe should have started the show with that match, because the crowd would have been a lot hotter.  That's been another problem with AEW and the situation they are in, the smaller crowd runs out of energy no matter how good the show is.

That said, the story was great....from the storytelling of the match with the spots etc. to the story that led to the finish.  From the spot where Mox brought in the chairs to the finish it was really good.  I thought the set up with Kenny thrown into the heater came off really well, and he looked to have a legit fucked up eye after the match, so that was interesting.  When they have a grizzled vet like me wondering how much of this was actually planned and what was improvised they've done a hell of a job.  Not sure how you fake an eye injury on the fly like that.  I'll wait and see what they do here with Kenny and Impact, but it has me intrigued.  My first thought is he reunites with Anderson and Gallows, which is really interesting on many levels.  I haven't watched Impact in forever, but all the buzz around their product has been positive in recent years.  I hope it's less "OMG KENNY'S A TURNCOAT"/IMPACT INVASION and more Kenny like "fuck it, I'm the man, I'm the WORLD CHAMPION, I can go anywhere I damn well please".  I'm always a fan of inter-promotional stuff and it's something I miss from the olden days

As for Sting....it was a cool moment for old WCW fans like me....but to what end?  I love Sting but by the end I was just thinking, "what are we doing here?"  It made me feel like I was watching TNA, and that's before they did the actual angle with Impact!!!  I feel like they've walked a fine line with being like and reminding people of WCW fairly well so far, but this might be a bridge too far.  What does Sting bring to the table in 2020?  Is he going to wrestle?  I feel like there is possibly some mileage with him as a character, but I think they've got their work cut out for them to make this legitimately good and interesting and not the kind of stuff that made TNA so interminably bad.

 

[sek69]

So I'm watching yesterday's episode of Impact, and Karl Anderson accepted Ethan Page's challenge for a match on their next "Network event" equivalent on January 12. Karl accepts his challenge and adds "I know you got friends, I have friends too. After all, I'm a Good Brother" which certainly hits different after AEW. 

 

(should be noted this is part of an angle where Luke Gallows was attacked by Page and was out of action so Karl was pointedly not talking about his usual partner)

[FMKK]

If the main event finish was just to establish Callis as Omega's manager/hype man and set up a PPV rematch with Moxley, then I'm cool with it, even if I wanted a clean finish. But it's the Impact shit that I'm highly sceptical of. What does AEW stand to gain from that? Some nice wrestlers for the women's division and maybe MCMG vs The Bucks on a PPV would be cool, as would having a feeder league to send green guys or people who are out of the booking loop. Private Party getting some reps and FTR and Spears as a heel trio? Cool. But centring your main event angle around Impact, I don't know man. Not feeling that.

[Memphis Mark]

Maybe the Khans are going to buy Impact  ?  The only real asset that Impact has is their video library . Other than that their seems to be no  reason for AEW to work with Impact . AEW can just go in and pick off the the talent when contracts  are up.  I don't see how having Don Callis and company appear on on AEW programming will bring new viewers . 

[KawadaSmile]

Hey, Sting making his AEW debut and an INVASION angle is pretty cool! Don't think many people saw the latter coming.

Will this draw viewers to either side? Will Sting wrestle, or have a different role? Will we get Killer Kelly vs Shida?

[Blehschmidt]

If this means a chance for Su Yung, Deonna Purrazzo, and Tenille Dashwood as part of the AEW Women's division, then color me interested!

[Stiva]

3 hours ago, Memphis Mark said:

Maybe the Khans are going to buy Impact  ?  The only real asset that Impact has is their video library . Other than that their seems to be no  reason for AEW to work with Impact . AEW can just go in and pick off the the talent when contracts  are up.  I don't see how having Don Callis and company appear on on AEW programming will bring new viewers . 

This is my thinking tbh. I have mixed feelings about Impact vs AEW but I’m not sure anyone saw it coming and it’s a hell of a hook for next week. I’m guessing Sting is number 4 for War Games with Team Taz and I’m looking forward to Moxley living out his Stone Cold dreams by smashing into Impact in his muscle car.

As mentioned, the women’s division will improve immensely and we may also get The North working in the tag ranks. I dig the general chaos and excitement of it all so mission accomplished.

[NintendoLogic]

Isn't Sting too broken down to work a match? Or did he just say that to get away from Seth Rollins?

[Blehschmidt]

40 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Isn't Sting too broken down to work a match? Or did he just say that to get away from Seth Rollins?

If he came in as the last person for War Games, threw some punches and slapped on a Scorpion Deathlock, I'm sure he'd be fine.

Hell, they have Arn in there messing around, and his injury was worse than Stings.

[sek69]

Sting in a couple of multiple man tags while being a walking member-berry for lapsed fans who used to watch rasslin in TNT back in the day isn't the worst use of the guy.

Plus he'll be in a company full of people who grew up idolizing him as kids rather than a company who only wanted to use him as an avatar to keep winning a war they already won, that alone will make a world of difference on how he's used. 

[DMJ]

Agreed.

I don't expect Sting to be a ratings draw or anything, but he's always going to be over and has a "gravitas" that you can't earn overnight or just by winning matches. He's not quite at the same level as The Undertaker in terms of mythology and all that, but there was also never a year where The Undertaker went completely silent, stood in the rafters, and sent a bird to the ring and ended up more over than he'd ever been. 

The WWE had no interest in using Sting the way a 90s wrestling fan would - which is, dumb or not, to write his character like The Crow, like a dark comic book hero, like an apparition. Can things veer into Ultimate Warrior in 98' territory? Sure. They could. Or we could get moments that might raise the hair on your arm a little, the kind of stuff that people write fan fiction about (except it won't feature Taker or Bray Wyatt).   

[KawadaSmile]

As long as they can get their hands on Sting's best theme ever, everything would be a net positive.

He does this, he does that. Locks the Scorpion Deathlock and the match is a wrap.

[Blehschmidt]

6 hours ago, Memphis Mark said:

Maybe the Khans are going to buy Impact  ?  The only real asset that Impact has is their video library . Other than that their seems to be no  reason for AEW to work with Impact . AEW can just go in and pick off the the talent when contracts  are up.  I don't see how having Don Callis and company appear on on AEW programming will bring new viewers . 

It's an interesting thought. Maybe Anthem wants out, and the Khans can get it on the cheap? Get the video library, the name Impact for a potential second show, some decent talent, and you keep it out of Vince's hands.

 

[C.S.]

10 hours ago, Memphis Mark said:

Maybe the Khans are going to buy Impact  ?

Very intriguing thought. I wonder if they'd also get Impact Plus and rebrand it AEW Plus or something like that. 

[C.S.]

Wednesday: AEW announces working relationship with Impact.

Thursday: Triple H On WWE Working With Other Promotions: "We’re Open For Business" (WrestleZone)

A completely coincidence, of course.

[Strummer]

Dynamite last night up to 913,000 viewers. .42 in the DEMO

[El-P]

I haven't read the thread yet (because I expect the bitching about IMPACT this, Sting that, whatever (EDIT : I was right )). Just want to say this :

I was a huge Nitro era fan.
I was a Don Callis fan dating back from 1997.

Kenny Omega is one of my favourite pro-wrestler ever and gave me the three best matches I've ever seen in 30 years of watching pro-wrestling.
I've been a big fan of IMPACT Wrestling since Slammiversary 2018 and it was basically my own little promotion before AEW appeared.

This December is basically marking (in a few days) my 30 year anniversary of being a fan of pro-wrestling.

 So, basically, it's almost like it all came full circle and I just recieved a big-ass gift to celebrate. Almost to the point that I could say, you know what, my pro-wrestling fandom life is now complete. Whatever I get after that point is just bonus.

Yeah, AEW made me a very, very, very happy pro-wrestling fan today.

Of course, you could also put it like this :

Triple H at Mania 31 : Sting, the war is now over

Sting in 2020 : hold my beer

Mark out city.

[C.S.]

Great post, @El-P. I have nothing more to add. Just wanted to acknowledge that.

[Tim Evans]

That Sting debut ruled. I'm glad Sting got his WWE pay day and HOF but it really feels right that he's back on TNT. There is so much he can do and put guys over without even wrestling.

Omega/Mox was fine but I was expecting more given the buildup. Not sure if it was the weather or what but till the finish it felt flat. The Impact stuff is intriging. I don't have high hopes but I do hope it helps the women's division. Send some of the greener women to Impact and bring up Deonna, Jordynne and Su to AEW.

My favorite thing on the whole show was the battle royal. That was Miro's best performance in AEW. He looked like the star people say he was when getting wasted in WWE.

Only negative part of the show was the backstage segments. The Shida one was weird. And the Bucks one with Bowens and Castor was cringworthy till the beatdown. I hope Max is a better wrestler than he is a rapper.

[FMKK]

I have to say, it is kind of amusing that HHH's twenty year long-game to take over wrestling has completely run aground because of some smark with money, Dusty Rhodes sun and three gamer nerds.